Dr. Bartholomew was driving the car on the A1 highway, and the fairy-tale pastoral scenery of early autumn flew by outside the window. He turned on the stereo, and the sound of Richard Stewart sounded in the lavender leather-wrapped interior of the 2024 Aston Martin DBK.
Rouse's opera Der Rosenkavalier, a recording version conducted by Erich Kleiber in the 1950s, one of the few recorded works of the old Kleiber, was Bartholomew's favorite.
As a British man born in Germany, raised in the United States, and working in Austria, his interests are a bit complicated. Opera and jazz are the two most contradictory and harmonious hobbies. He never felt that "The Marriage of Figaro" was on the record shelf.
》There is nothing strange about being placed next to NatKingCole, even though many guests complained.
Suddenly the phone rang, interrupting Senna Julina's beautiful soprano. "Brandon, where are you?"
"On the way back to Salzburg from Bern." Bartholomew glanced at the navigation screen, "I just passed through Zurich."
"In your buzzy old car?"
"You're an idiot who doesn't know how to appreciate it, Mark." Bartholomew pressed the car phone button and rejected the other party's video call application. "DBK is the highest achievement of human gasoline-powered cars and the last challenger to European environmental regulations. You
How can an environmentalist who only drives hydrogen cars understand that the roar of a V12 engine is the most beautiful music?"
"I'm not a green person, Brandon. I'm just succumbing to the fuel tax, environmental tax, luxury tax bill. The euros you spent on that classic car in twenty years were enough to buy an island in the Caribbean."
Mark Thompson chuckled on the other end of the phone.
"Deposits are meaningless numbers, Dr. Thompson. I just want to leave a legacy that will last my son a lifetime of smoking pot in college."
"You mean, the Chinese boy you adopted?"
"Yes, he is 29 years old this year and is in Beijing."
"You haven't left college yet?"
"He applied for the A4 credit system. He can graduate from Tsinghua University by completing enough credits within twenty years. He told me that he didn't want to work until he solved a problem. I agreed."
"problem?"
"I don't know." Bartholomew smiled, "But I'm very happy to see my young man is full of energy. He also manages my Quantum Angel Fund. As far as I know, the fund operation is very successful."
"Looking forward to meeting him." Thompson affirmed, then changed the subject: "The GTC (Genesis Accessories Committee) is about to hold an enlarged meeting of the standing committee. Twelve standing committee members, ninety-seven attending members and senior executives of Taihao Company will participate. You
The team will also give a report. In addition, Wu is also looking forward to your appearance."
"Mark, you know, I have resigned from office a long time ago. Now I am only doing peripheral research. There seems to be no need to attend core meetings."
"You may change your mind after listening to the topic." The voice on the other end of the phone became serious. "Terrorist activities against Genesis have become more and more intense in recent years. Our comprehensive takeover of the Internet, wired communications, and wireless communications networks has led to pessimists and reactionaries.
The scientific community is panicking. Just before the opening of the Berne Conference, the GTC received reports from peripheral intelligence personnel stating that anti-GTC groups were going to launch terrorist operations in Asia and steal nuclear materials to make dirty bombs. They claimed that they would not hesitate to cause the worst disaster in a century.
humanitarian disaster."
"Against GTC? No political overtones?" Bartholomew frowned.
"The political color is very light. That group is a small organization with an Indian as its core and has strong anti-reconnaissance capabilities."
"Intelligence source?"
"From the top of the Independent Processing Union (IPU: Independent Processing Union), the world's largest anti-GTC organization, peripheral intelligence personnel lost contact after this information was transmitted. The reliability is relatively high."
Bartholomew was a little irritated and stepped on the accelerator. The V12 engine made a strong roar and the Aston Martin ejected like a bullet, surpassing two hydrogen-powered cars that were driving slowly in the clean energy line.
"The GTC back then was just a purely academic coordinating organization, used to balance the computing requests for 'Genesis' from all walks of life. Starting from the second committee, the GTC became more and more powerful, developing branches like octopus tentacles. Today, it is simply
It is a country of nations that is above the United Nations - an academic institution actually spreads spies all over the world like the KGB. Mark, what do you think?"
"Brandon, let's face it. From the moment Genesis was launched, GTC has been the largest dictator in human history. Genesis is the human brain. For thirty years, human nerves - communication networks -
We are also gradually being mastered by the Genesis Terminal. Whether you like it or not, in the biological categories of the animal kingdom, Chordata, Mammalia, Primates, Hominidae, Homo, Homo sapiens, we stand at the top of evolution and at the forefront of power.
Top." Mark Thompson laughed easily, "In addition, you have to know that GTC has no intention of harming anyone. All our actions are based on protecting ourselves. Protecting Genesis means protecting the future of mankind. From this height
See, the marginal cost of all sacrifices is horribly low.”
Bartholomew sighed tiredly. "Well, I'll attend the meeting, but I probably won't be able to help much. You know, 'The World' is my main job."
"'The World' is our common child, Brandon. I will send you the information later, and the meeting will be held in South Africa. Also, call your Oriental guy and ask him to leave Asia." Thompson hung up.
Telephone.
Bartholomew looked at the speeding scenery for a while, and then he flicked his fingers and said, "Verify my authority."
"Verified, dear father. I miss you very much." A gentle male synthesized voice sounded in the car. "Father" was the exclusive purview of the twelve standing committee members of the first GTC at the launch of Genesis, except for Bartholomew himself
In addition, there are only three other "fathers" who are still alive.
"Take over the car."
"Okay, dear father."
The steering wheel started to turn on its own, and Bartholomew let go of his hand. "Put Gu Tie through."
"Okay, dear father."
After a moment of silence, the male voice reported: "Gu Tie declined this call. He is on an Aeroflot flight from China to Ukraine. Do we need to force the call?"
"Forget it, leave him a message and ask him not to return to China in the near future."
"Okay, dear father, I have left a message. Your mental condition is not very good and you need more rest. Would you like a cup of hot tea?"
"Earl Gray tea."
"No milk, dear father. It will be delivered immediately."
At the 0th second, on a large "Starline" sightseeing bus that was 3 kilometers away from Bartholomew's vehicle and approaching in the opposite direction, the stewardess heard the driver's instruction on the earphone to make a cup of Earl Gray black tea without milk.
She walked to the on-board bar, made black tea skillfully, and walked to the front of the car holding an exquisite bone china tea cup.
At the 50th second, "Look to the right", the driver's voice sounded in the earphones, and the stewardess turned to the right. At this time, there was a bang, and the airbag on the floor of the carriage suddenly exploded, and the teacup and tray were thrown out under the impact.
, at the same moment the bus door opened automatically and the tea cup flew out of the bus.
At the 51st second, two instructions were quietly added to the task log of the A1 Expressway Management Bureau: after 1 second, move the air deflector No.
The windshield is moved to position 66, and the duct air volume is delivered to 400 units.
At the 52nd second, the X488 isolation belt air guide, which is equipped on all European highways and is used to adjust the wind speed along the highway to reduce energy consumption caused by vehicle wind resistance, accurately moved two quadrants and the micro turbine started.
At the 53rd second, the Starliner bus and the Aston Martin sports car were about to pass each other at a relative speed of 200 kilometers per hour. At this moment, the air guide caused a conveyor belt-like air vortex between the two cars, and the air was flying in the air.
The tea cup was accurately captured by the vortex and smoothly thrown to the opposite lane.
At 54 seconds, Aston Martin's passenger window was lowered, and the X488 air guide moved again, increasing the power of the turbine. The teacup and tray drew a beautiful arc in the air vortex, and were quickly accelerated to 100 by the wind pressure.
km/h, ejected under the air mass.
At the 55th second, a male voice spoke: "Dear father, the tea is ready. If you don't drink it quickly, it will get cold quickly."
At 56 seconds, Bartholomew stretched out his arm and picked up the tea cup from the tray floating steadily outside the passenger window. The moment the tea cup was taken away, the air vortex created by the X488 air guide was destroyed, and the tray immediately lost its direction.
With such speed, it fell towards the isolation belt and was smashed into pieces.
"Well, Twinings." Bartholomew took a sip of the steaming black tea and said in an Oxford accent.
"No one speaks in Oxford accent these days, dear father. Yesterday at tea time, the Queen and the Duchess used Cockney accent to chat about the weather." A male voice spoke softly and softly about gossip.
"Son, let me ask you, why do you ignore threats to your own safety? Terrorists can develop dirty bombs, and one day, a nuclear bomb may land in Salzburg."
'Genesis' took a few seconds to think. Bartholomew knew that the answer had already been stored in the sequence of the speech synthesis software, and the quantum computer just politely set aside a few seconds based on language habits to show that it paid attention to his question.
The car turned a corner, and the dark red liquid in the teacup tilted slightly.
"Dear father," the male voice spoke, "it is difficult for me to answer your question. If you had implanted the three laws of robots at the bottom of the system instead of setting the core of altruism logic, the whole world would be different now.
"
"I don't know." The white-haired doctor sipped the black tea thoughtfully, feeling that the spicy and sweet taste of bergamot was looming in the richness of Ceylon black tea.
"Gu Tie called back. Do you want to get through?"
"Forget it." The old man turned the knob to increase the volume of "Der Rosenkavalier".